Megatrends – Resource security

By 2050 it is estimated that we will need to produce 70 percent more food for a growing population with growing demands. In a little more than a decade, demand for water will increase by 40 percent and for energy by 50 percent of current global use.

Demand for energy, food and water will only intensify. In 2015 the World Economic Forum identified water crises as the most significant global threat. At the same time, the impacts of human induced climate change may be rapid and unpredictable.

Many rare metals we have never or seldom used before have become indispensable for sustainable clean energy, computers and mobile devices. We need over 60 such critical materials for wind and solar fuel generation, lighting, making batteries, to build electric and hybrid cars, smartphones and tablets.

Increasing demand and the rare nature of many of these materials can lead to critical shortfalls and put severe limitations on renewable energy technologies.

The challenges raised by this megatrend can be tackled through innovation, new solutions and new industries as well as initiatives such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We must dare to imagine radically new solutions for a radically different future.

Tags

Sydney Business Insights is a University of Sydney Business School initiative aiming to provide the business community and public, including our students, alumni and partners with a deeper understanding of major issues and trends around the future of business.

We are witnessing the rise of the individual like never before. Tremendous technological advances, ubiquitous connectivity, improvements in access to education and health are empowering individuals across the world.

The future is one of cities. Today more than half the world’s population lives in cities and 85 percent of the global GDP is generated in cities, with the biggest 250 cities accounting for 57 percent of global GDP.

Technological change driven by the acceleration, distribution and application of computing power across industry via the internet, cloud and individual mobile platforms has been called “the second machine age” and “the fourth industrial revolution”.